


You're Old Enough To Read The Signs

by Velocity_Owl87



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Edwardian, Drama & Romance, Eloping, F/M, Family Dynamics, First Time, Friendship/Love, Gen, Introspection, Jon Snow knows something, Mutual Pining, Pre-War, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 23:36:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5685970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velocity_Owl87/pseuds/Velocity_Owl87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Althea "Thea" Greyjoy knew that her guardian's bastard was hers from the moment they laid eyes on each other. </p><p>She just had to wait for him to finally realize it and do something about it before she ended up being sold to the highest bidder of good family and breeding. </p><p>So could she be blamed for slightly pushing things along?</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're Old Enough To Read The Signs

**Author's Note:**

> I watched the Downton Abbey Christmas special and the dinner scene just made me picture a female! Theon in a similar setting, watching Jon and getting impatient for him to finally make some kind of overture to her after years of mutual pining. I also somehow end up making genderswaps of all the characters I like, so it was just a matter of time, I guess. 
> 
> Proofed and edited, but if mistakes appear, they will be fixed. 
> 
> Title is from "It's Raining Again" by Supertramp.

It was the traditional Christmas dinner that it finally came to a head between herself and Lord Snow, the bastard by-blow of the Duke of Winterfell, Lord Eddard Stark. 

Her guardian, as per the King’s wishes after her father tried and failed to incite a rebellion in their home shire. Her older siblings hadn’t fared as well as she had and that was why at twenty, she was Althea Greyjoy, the sole heir to the Pyke, the large Northumberland estate that she had only vague memories of. 

She had come to Winterfell in Yorkshire at age of eleven and had developed a close friendship with Robb. Robb, who no matter how often their Lady mother scolded him for being so informal with Thea herself, who was the Marchioness of Pyke, called her Thea and was happy to pull her into his and Jon's boy's games. Thea hadn’t cared, but both of them had dutifully listened to the Duchess of Winterfell and then promptly refused to follow her instructions.

Besides, it wasn’t as if Thea herself was following the rules either. 

“I’m not Lord North, that’s just stupid as all out.” Robb had told her the minute that his mother had departed their vicinity and had grabbed her to drag her off to show her his toys or a brand new puppy. Something boylike, Thea guessed as she was pulled along.

“Besides, I think she does it to bother Jon more than anything.” Robb added darkly. 

Thea wondered who “Jon” was exactly when the answer came forward. 

And make her breath catch. 

He was the same age, maybe slightly older than them, and already he was something else. Unlike Robb and his mother and most of the other Stark children, Jon looked exactly like Lord Eddard. Same melancholy face, grey eyes and dark hair in miniature. The same wiry and slender build. He wasn’t going to be a big man, but he had already captivated her.

She wasn’t ever going to tell him though. She had a feeling that this boy was part of the reason why Robb’s mother insisted on formalities and as bold as she might have been, she wasn't about to cross that line yet.

“Jon! Come meet Thea! She just arrived!”

Jon approached them carefully and Thea’s heart softened a bit at that. He was just a child, but he had already had weathered things that no child really should have to worry about, just like bastards inevitably ended up doing, it seemed. 

“Nice to meet you.” He said quietly, making to bow at her, but was stopped by Thea. 

“You don’t have to do that.”

She told him, making Robb flash her a look of respect and steadfast loyalty that she knew then was in reaction to how she treated Jon. 

Jon had blinked in surprise and there had been the faintest of smiles on his face as he had. Maybe even more, but she had no time to know exactly what else that was, since the Duke had come back to take them out riding and she never did get the chance afterward.

Even if they had grown side by side. Somehow, they hadn’t really crossed paths much after that. Boarding school came much too soon for both of them and summer breaks that never seemed long enough prevented anything of that sort from happening. It wasn’t until graduation that they had spent enough time together for Thea to notice what she had suspected in those brief times that they had been together. 

Lord Snow fancied her. 

And fancied her badly.

“He’s doing it again!” Sansa hissed to Thea as they sat in the formal dining room while waiting to be served. The chatter and noise that always accompanied those kinds of gatherings helped to mask the comment Sansa made, of which Thea was glad. She didn’t want any theatrics before the meal was served, which no doubt would happen if Sansa’s Lady mother heard. 

Especially since Thea was all too aware that the dinner was an attempt to find suitable mates not just for her eldest son, but for herself and Sansa and Jon as a distant afterthought. Despite Jon having a decent fortune and getting a degree in engineering, Lady Catelyn still resented him. Despite Lord Ned nearly bending over backwards to please his wife, she hadn’t ever truly forgiven him for a youthful indiscretion that had produced the cadet branch of the Winterfell Duchy. 

Thea didn’t respond and only raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow before she turned her head slightly to glance at Sansa. They had been seated next to each other for the dinner that Sansa’s mum and dad, Lord and Lady Stark were hosting in honour of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey’s engagement. Usually, they were across from each other and that had given Thea enough of an insight on what Sansa’s expression must be at that point. She nudged her younger friend before she ever so casually turned to look at the object of Sansa’s ire.

Jon Snow was sitting beside Robb and although they looked like they were deep in conversation, his eyes occasionally flickered up in her direction. She wondered if the conversation was about what everyone had been talking about lately and that was why he felt bold enough to keep looking at her. If it had required all his attention, he wouldn’t have glanced at her so often, Thea thought. 

It wasn’t about the estate. Or about his studies, she surmised.  Probably something about the continent and the tours of the Austrian duke in his eastern empire. There had been talk about something happening there. Maybe war. 

Thea didn’t care. She had heard all of it before. So she focused on Jon. He was subtle, she had to give him that. But not subtle enough for her to not notice that despite paying attention to whatever it was that he and Robb were discussing, his attention was on her. She also knew that he was aware of her gaze on him when his cheeks deepened from their usually pale cream to a deep pink. 

She looked away then, not wanting to torment him any further. Lady Catelyn already did that on a regular basis and she wasn’t about to add to that unnecessary cruelty. 

She should have talked to him years ago about that habit, but she couldn’t bring herself to snap at him because of his feelings for her. Sure, she had somehow always teased him about everything else, with Robb being the peace-maker between them. But not that. Not when it was the only pure and positive male attention she’s gotten ever since she finally grew into the copy of the stunning woman her mother was rumored to have been before it all went to hell at the Pyke. 

Not when she knew, despite stubbornly wanting for it to not be the case, that she felt the same way towards him. Not when she was all too aware that she would gladly jump at his suit if he ever dared to approach her with it. 

Thea was aware of Jon’s eyes on her as the years passed. He tried to pretend that he wasn’t watching her, but Thea knew that his eyes always lingered on her whenever they sat in the hall. She guessed she should have been outraged, or angry, as a high born lady as Lady Catelyn and the governess Mordane had taught her and the other girls in Winterfell whenever an inappropriate suitor was around. Yet she couldn’t find it in her to do so. 

She found that she’d much rather have Jon looking at her as if she was priceless china than have the “proper” kind of suitors looking at her as if they were calculating whether she was a solid investment that they needed to take advantage of before someone else did. She wasn’t a person to them. She was her land, her title and her wealth and despite knowing that was just the way it was for titled girls like her, it rankled. 

Maybe if she hadn’t grown up with Jon and Robb beside her. If the Duke had sent her to school right after she had arrived things might have been different. But she had those years with them and she had learned her value as a person. She wanted that and being married off like a prize cow or horse wasn’t what she saw in her future. 

“I should talk to mother and governess Mordane and-”

“You shall do no such thing, Sansa.” Thea interrupted icily, making Sansa start and look at her in surprise. 

Thea turned to look at her and inwardly smiled as Sansa shrank back a little under the weight of her gaze. 

“He may not have been born on the same side of the blanket as Robb and the rest of us, but he doesn’t deserve to be humiliated simply because he’s looking. Have a little compassion and some of that courtesy you’re always so proud and eager to show off and let him be.”

Sansa’s cheeks got bright pink at that, but she wasn’t ready to let it go as of then. So Thea decided to play dirty to make sure she did.

“Or if you don’t, I can damn well show your father and mother those letters that you-”

Sansa hissed like a scalded cat before she muttered an agreement and turned to charm Lord Hornwood’s son, who was sitting to her left. Thea smirked at the easy victory and picked up her water glass. She would have much rather had champagne, but she had been all too aware of the Duke and Duchess and the warning look in their eyes for her, Robb, Jon, and Sansa. The last thing she needed was to be rushed out of bed to be lectured while nursing a hangover. 

So she drank the water and let her eyes wander as she took in the assorted lords, earls, barons, marquises and landed gentry in the hall. The cream of the north, Thea mused as she took note of the Hornwoods, Boltons, Dustins, Mormonts, Manderlys, Tallharts, Umbers, Karstarks, Flints and Reeds that sat in the great dining room. There were a few Tullys in attendance, since the Duchess had been the daughter of the Duke of Riverrun and the ties still persisted. It was a veritable feast for the senses and no doubt compiled for the best alliances. 

She was sure that Lady Dacey Mormont was in the first running for Robb. Or Lady Wynafry Manderley or even Alys Karstark. She knew that Robb was feeling the pressure to be married now that he had a degree from Manchester University and was ready to take a bigger part in running the estates and invest the earnings. Thea put her glass down and looked down at her lap, smoothing down the gold silk to her knees. She was on the market too and she was sure that Hornwood, Dustin, Bolton, Umber and Karstark were speculating at her worth as a possible daughter in law. 

She knew that she wasn’t a beauty like Sansa or Wynafryd and Dacey were. Plus the old shadow of her father being a traitor was still there. But her title and money had a way of making those old families overlook those deficits. Normally she would have been flattered, but the only one she wanted was simply content to look at her. 

And it had been fine in her teenage years. It had sustained her as she had spent those years in the convent school that she and Sansa had attended. A strict school that had taken the purity of their charges a little _ too  _ seriously, as far as Thea was concerned. She and some girls had managed to have some awkward fumbling sessions with the village boys, but it had only gone as far as wet kisses. She wanted and yearned for more. 

But only from one person. 

And if she didn’t act quickly enough, she was going to lose her chance. 

At that exact moment that the first course was being brought out, Althea Greyjoy had decided that she was going to make Jon Snow hers and damn the consequences.

~*~*~*~*~

He was in the library, in the remotest and darkest part of the huge room, his nose buried in a book. He was so engrossed in his reading that he didn’t notice her presence until she closed the doors and locked the door with a “click” that reverberated loudly throughout the silent room. 

“Good gods, Thea! You scared the crap out of me!”

Jon cried out in a strangled yell, his hands clutching his book tightly as he watched Thea sit down, his eyes still wide and shocked as he did.

“Oh don’t be such a girl’s blouse, Jon. If you maybe got your nose out of a book once in awhile, you wouldn’t get shocked all the time.”

Jon gave her one of his looks before he closed the book and laid it on the table next to the wingback chair he had claimed as his years ago. He smoothed down his trousers and looked at her expectantly. He knew that she didn’t seek him out just for small chats at those functions. As much as she liked parties, Jon was all too aware that she also needed a breather and would seek him out in the library he usually ensconced himself in until he was forced to socialize as per his father’s request. 

Thea hesitated when she saw him waiting for her to start talking like she usually did. She felt her hands go cold with nerves and she tucked them under her thighs, making the material pull taut and outline them. In turn, that made Jon’s eyes zoom in on them. She swallowed and braced herself to continue the next part of her plan. 

“So when are you going to do it, Jon?”

Jon blinked at her bluntness, his eyebrows drawing together as he tried to figure out what she meant. Despite one of his former flames joking that he was an idiot, Thea could attest there was a sharp mind hidden behind that pretty face. It didn’t take him that long to figure out what she meant and his face flushed red in seconds once he did.

“I didn’t think I was being  _ that _ obvious.” He muttered to himself, making her laugh. 

“It’s not hard to notice when you know what to look for. But that’s neither here nor there. What I want to know is whether you’re actually going to do something about it or just be a creep and stare. I’m sure if Bolton or Umber end up as my-”

She didn’t get to finish that observation due to Jon practically leaping out of his chair and pinning her down to hers, his mouth hot and sweet against hers, making her mind go blank. She forgot herself as his mouth moved against hers, his hands lifting up her skirt to go between her legs and…

She gasped and arched against him, her legs splaying open as he touched her again. He only touched her briefly before he pulled away and looked at her with a serious expression on his face. 

“Do you seriously want this? If you’re just-”

“I’ve wanted this since the first time I saw you, you git! I don’t care if you’re Ned Winterfell’s bastard. I want you, now are you going to finish or are you just going to talk me to death?”

Jon snorted as he hooked his fingers into the waistband of her knickers and viciously ripped the flimsy lace things off and slipped a finger inside her. She squeaked in surprise and winced when she heard the dress also rip due to his eagerness to finally claim her. But when he started moving his finger, it was the last thing she cared about. The movement made her squeak loudly. He kissed her, muffling the noise she made as he stroked her open and got her wet as all out, allowing him to get more fingers in and work her up so that she was nearly screaming into his mouth. 

It felt good. So damned good that she couldn't imagine it getting better.

It did when he pressed into that hidden nub of flesh, rubbing it just so and making her hips jerk and stutter and eyes widen as she was hit with a wet wave of completion that left her boneless and pliable for anything else that Jon had in mind. 

Dimly, she heard Jon fumble with his trousers, undoing them quickly and pressing himself into her. He had trailed a wet line of kisses from her mouth down her jawline, his head resting on her shoulder as he placed himself into the right position for the next step.

He didn’t say anything as he did this, only moving forward inch by slow inch until he was fully seated inside of her. There was no going back at that point. Jon had finally claimed her as his. 

He moved silently, his hips moving in a slow, measured rhythm that had her sliding back and forth on the chair as he thrust into her. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, canting her hips against him to get more friction and to get that build up of arousal again. He moved harder and faster against her, his breathing loud and ragged in her ear. 

She wondered if anyone knew they were missing. Or if they knew what was happening in the library and would walk in on them at any moment. Maybe Jon knew it would happen, because he sped up, making Thea do the same and in moments, she felt a pop and a hotness gush inside of her. It was only then that Jon collapsed heavily on top of her, his heart beating a mile a minute as he lay utterly spent. 

They lay in silence for a few moments before Jon raised his head. He had damp curls sticking to his forehead and his eyes glazed as he glanced at her with a look that she could only describe as soppy. A look that she was sure she was returning tenfold. 

“Now what?”

Jon’s face returned to its usual lines, his eyes going inward as he looked at all the options available to them. 

“Gretna Green. They can’t separate us if we’re married.”

Thea blinked before letting a slow smile spread across her face. 

“Perfect.”

~*~*~*~*

An hour later found them on a train bound for Scotland and a small bag between them. Thea was only slightly cold, but Jon pulled her close, sharing his warmth with her. 

She knew all too well that they would have either the Duke or Robb running after them soon, but with luck, they would have a day’s head start and a marriage completed. She didn’t care about what would happen after. 

All she cared about at that moment, as Yorkshire and England was left behind, that after so many years, Jon was finally hers.

She would just be Lady Snow and the Pyke would be the home of Greysnows, and she didn’t give a damn.

He was hers and she was his and that was all that mattered.

END.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm Canadian, so we don't have a peerage here. I looked up all of the information and made the British equivalents to what they might be in the GoT world. In Jon's case, he gets to basically start his own branch of Starks and that's part of the reason why Catelyn's pissed in this universe. When he and Thea take over Pyke, they'll combine the names for their offspring and develop a cadet branch.  
> the Greyjoy rebellion would be analogous for a home state type movement. Robert is the king and he would be analogous to Edward VII.   
> Gretna Green was still in use as a quickie marriage spot, hence them heading there.   
> I did research, but not everything will be 100%, so if mistakes appear, my apologies.


End file.
